Diary of an Arcade Employee

Toughskins and Super Denims

Sears and JCPenney were two of the main retailers that I remember pushing jeans. Sears had the Toughskins line, and JCPenney had the Super Denims.

Sears Toughskins were sold with the guarantee that the children would grow out of them before the pants wore out (great news for the younger siblings getting hand me downs). In this first ad, not sure why the boys are doing the splits…

You could even get them in Corduroy, and get a velour Braggin’ Dragon top to match!

My favorite of the ads is with Don Cornelius. Pay attention to the sizes available from the Put-On Shop at Sears…

JCPenney Super Denims commercial always used to freak me out a little bit. First off, since when is a robot (and I use that term very loosely) doing a scissors kick a testament to the toughness of their jeans? Was my Mom really swayed by that? I never spent hours in my room or in the den doing a standing scissors kick, I was never interested in doing ballet in my jeans, or ballet period. If she was not convinced by the ability to withstand that repeated punishment, surely the idea of me repeatedly dragging my ass on the carpet like I had worms would make her run down and buy a pair. If your kid is wearing out his jeans by dragging his hind end all over the house, you might have bigger issues…

Sorry to hear that the Toughskins and glasses were an awful combo for you… I do agree though, I hate the Middle School term, I was in Elementary school from K through 6 grade, Jr High from 7th through 9th grade, and then on to High School… My kids though, they went to Middle School, just 7th and 8th grade, but did not have Toughskins, just $80 Hollister jeans with the holes Toughskins prevented already in them…